We tested the same import of 500 records to add a simple constituent mapping and gift mapping into a batch (importing directly is always faster than importing via batch, but we wanted to test an improvement in version 4.9 to help improve the speed of importing to a batch. For additional Importacular speed information, see this knowledgebase article.)
The times below are listed in HH:MM:SS.
4.8 Blackbaud hosted (Citrix) -01:49:47
4.8 Blackbaud Azure hosted - 01:36:38
4.8 Self Hosted - 00:51:10
4.9 Blackbaud hosted (Citrix) - 00:37:49
4.9 Blackbaud Azure hosted - 00:24:28
4.9 Self Hosted - 00:19:20
As you can see, Importacular was faster in some environments than others, but in using the same self-hosted environment to test both 4.8 and 4.9 with the same import file, template and data, the import time went from 51 minutes to 19 minutes. In the Blackbaud hosted Citrix environment, it went from 1 hour and 49 minutes down to just under 38 minutes. In the Blackbaud Azure hosted environment, the processing time dropped from 1 hour 36 minutes to 24 minutes.
When comparing these times to RE Import, please factor in the time to match records missing ID numbers as well as separate imports for both Constituents and Gifts. Importing Gifts to Batch also adds additional time to the import.